Yankees GM says he's reached out to at least 20 teams about trades
The New York Yankees are in a tight race atop the American League East standings and general manager Brian Cashman is already looking for ways to make his team better.
Cashman told Justin Tasch of the New York Daily News he's reached out to at least 20 teams about potential trades prior to next month's deadline.
Among the Yankees' biggest interests is starting pitching. Jordan Montgomery is out for the season with Tommy John surgery and Masahiro Tanaka is set to miss a month because of strained hamstrings.
"That's always been a focus of ours during the winter. We're always trying to reinforce that and improve upon it. Time will tell," Cashman said Friday. "But in the meantime (Domingo) German has come up and done such a good job for us. Hopefully we can get Tanaka back in a timely manner and it would be nice to improve things at the same time. This team deserves the right to get reinforced here if we can possibly find a way but we really like the team we've got and we'd love to make it better if it's possible."
Despite their apparent need, the Yankees' rotation has pitched well (fifth among AL teams in ERA), though a lot of that is thanks to Cy Young candidate Luis Severino.
| PITCHER | GS | IP | W-L | ERA | WHIP | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luis Severino | 14 | 91 | 9-2 | 2.27 | 0.96 | 109 |
| Sonny Gray | 13 | 68.2 | 4-4 | 4.98 | 1.49 | 59 |
| Masahiro Tanaka | 13 | 72.2 | 7-2 | 4.58 | 1.09 | 73 |
| CC Sabathia | 12 | 63.1 | 4-1 | 3.27 | 1.18 | 47 |
| Domingo German | 7 | 53.1 | 1-4 | 5.23 | 1.26 | 63 |
The Yankees have been tied to Mets starter Jacob deGrom and Blue Jays southpaw J.A. Happ in trade rumors, and there are a plethora of other options available to them as well.
Related: Ranking the top 25 trade candidates ahead of MLB's non-waiver deadline
One thing is for certain: Cashman won't deal hot-hitting rookie Gleyber Torres to fill his team's need, explaining Friday, "I've got to walk around this town," when asked about including the 21-year-old in trade proposals.